In the past, certain surgical procedures required relatively large incisions to be made into the body in order to gain visual and instrument access to a surgical site deep within the body. By way of example, surgical procedures on posterior spine elements may have required relatively large incisions to be made to effectively operate on the spine elements. These large incisions are generally undesirable as they may result in increased damage to muscle tissue, increased blood loss, prolonged pain to the patient as well as potential scarring.
More recently, however, many surgical procedures are conducted using minimally invasive techniques that seek to minimize some of the undesirable aspects of past procedures. Such techniques typically involve splitting the muscle tissue, as opposed to cutting the muscle tissue, which in turn causes less damage to the muscle, increases the recovery times, and reduces patient discomfort. Conventional retractors are used to hold the incision and passageway open through the soft tissue and muscle.
Once a path to the surgical site is established, an additional retractor or access port may be inserted through the incision to provide the necessary retraction so as to establish an unencumbered path to the surgical site. Thus, the retractor or access port effectively defines a working channel or space and provides visual and instrument access to the surgical site in a minimally invasive manner.
Although several minimally invasive access systems and techniques have been developed, there remains room for improvement. In particular, there is a need for an improved access system and method of using the same that addresses drawbacks of current access systems and associated procedures.